Philip was born into the Greek and Danish royal families, he was born in Greece, but his family was exiled from the country when he was an infant. After being educated in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, he joined the British Royal Navy in 1939, aged 18. From July 1939, he began corresponding with the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth, whom he had first met in 1934. During the Second World War he served with distinction in the Mediterranean and Pacific Fleets.

A keen sports enthusiast, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving, he is a patron, president or member of over 780 organisations and serves as chairman of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award for people aged 14 to 24.[2] He is the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch and the oldest ever male member of the British royal family. Philip retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, at the age of 96, having completed 22,219 solo engagements since 1952.

The war went badly for Greece, and the Turks made large gains. On 22 September 1922, Philip's uncle, King Constantine I, was forced to abdicate and the new military government arrested Prince Andrew, along with others; the commander of the army, General Georgios Hatzianestis, and five senior politicians were executed. Prince Andrew's life was believed to be in danger, and Alice was under surveillance. In December, a revolutionary court banished Prince Andrew from Greece for life;[6] the British naval vessel HMS Calypso evacuated Prince Andrew's family, with Philip carried to safety in a cot made from a fruit box. Philip's family went to France, where they settled in the Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud in a house lent to them by his wealthy aunt, Princess George of Greece and Denmark.[7]

Because Philip left Greece as a baby, he does not have a strong grasp of the Greek language. In 1992, he said that he "could understand a certain amount".[8] Philip has stated that he thought of himself as Danish, and his family spoke English, French, and German.[8] Philip, who in his youth was known for his charm, was linked to a number of women, including Osla Benning.[9]

Promotion to lieutenant followed on 16 July 1942.[28] In October of the same year, he became first lieutenant of HMS Wallace, at 21 years old one of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy. During the invasion of Sicily, in July 1943, as second in command of Wallace, he saved his ship from a night bomber attack, he devised a plan to launch a raft with smoke floats that successfully distracted the bombers, allowing the ship to slip away unnoticed.[27] In 1944, he moved on to the new destroyer, HMS Whelp, where he saw service with the British Pacific Fleet in the 27th Destroyer Flotilla.[29][30] He was present in Tokyo Bay when the instrument of Japanese surrender was signed. Philip returned to the United Kingdom on the Whelp in January 1946, and was posted as an instructor at HMS Royal Arthur, the Petty Officers' School in Corsham, Wiltshire.[31]

Eventually, in the summer of 1946, Philip asked the King for his daughter's hand in marriage; the King granted his request, provided that any formal engagement be delayed until Elizabeth's 21st birthday the following April.[34] By March 1947, Philip had abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles, had adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother's family, and had become a naturalised British subject; the engagement was announced to the public on 10 July 1947.[35]

Though Philip appeared "always to have regarded himself as an Anglican",[36] and he had attended Anglican services with his classmates and relations in England and throughout his Royal Navy days, he had been baptised in the Greek Orthodox Church; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, wanted to "regularise" Philip's position by officially receiving him into the Church of England,[37] which he did in October 1947.[38]

Philip and Elizabeth were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, recorded and broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world.[40] However, in post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for any of the Duke of Edinburgh's German relations to be invited to the wedding, including Philip's three surviving sisters, all of whom had married German princes. After their marriage, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh took up residence at Clarence House, their first two children were born before Elizabeth succeeded her father as monarch in 1952: Prince Charles in 1948 and Princess Anne in 1950. Their marriage is now the longest of any British monarch.[41][42]

With the King in ill health, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were both appointed to the Privy Council on 4 November 1951, after a coast-to-coast tour of Canada. At the end of January 1952, Philip and his wife set out on a tour of the Commonwealth. On 6 February 1952, they were in Kenya when Elizabeth's father died and she became queen, it was Philip who broke the news to Elizabeth at Sagana Lodge, and the royal party immediately returned to the United Kingdom.[52]

Coronation portrait of Elizabeth II with the Duke of Edinburgh, June 1953

The accession of Elizabeth to the throne brought up the question of the name of the royal house, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip's last name on marriage; the Duke's uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, advocated the name House of Mountbatten. Philip suggested House of Edinburgh, after his ducal title;[53] when Queen Mary, Elizabeth's grandmother, heard of this, she informed the British prime minister Winston Churchill, who himself later advised the Queen to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. Prince Philip privately complained, "I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children."[54]

On 8 February 1960, several years after the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the Queen issued an Order in Council declaring that Mountbatten-Windsor would be the surname of her and her husband's male-line descendants who are not styled as Royal Highness or titled as prince or princess.[55] While it seems the Queen had "absolutely set her heart" on such a change and had it in mind for some time, it occurred only 11 days before the birth of Prince Andrew (19 February), and only after three months of protracted correspondence between constitutional expert Edward Iwi (who averred that, without such a change, the royal child would be born with "the Badge of Bastardy") and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan who had attempted to rebuff Iwi.[56]

After her accession to the throne, the Queen also announced that the Duke was to have "place, pre-eminence and precedence" next to her "on all occasions and in all meetings, except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament"; this meant the Duke took precedence over his son, the Prince of Wales, except, officially, in the British parliament. In fact, however, he attends Parliament only when escorting the Queen for the annual State Opening of Parliament, where he walks and sits beside her.[57] Contrary to rumours over the years, the Queen and Duke are said by insiders to have had a strong relationship throughout their marriage, despite the challenges of Elizabeth's reign;[58][59] the Queen referred to Prince Philip in a speech on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 as her "constant strength and guide".[59]

Prince Philip receives a Parliamentary annuity (of £359,000 since 1990[fn 2]) that serves to meet official expenses in carrying out public duties; the annuity is unaffected by the reform of royal finances under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011.[60][61] Any part of the allowance that is not used to meet official expenditure is liable for tax. In practice, the entire allowance is used to fund his official duties.[62]

As consort to the Queen, Philip supported his wife in her new duties as sovereign, accompanying her to ceremonies such as the State Opening of Parliament in various countries, state dinners, and tours abroad; as chairman of the Coronation Commission, he was the first member of the royal family to fly in a helicopter, visiting the troops that were to take part in the ceremony.[63] Philip was not crowned in the service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her "liege man of life and limb".[64]

In the early 1950s, his sister-in-law, Princess Margaret, considered marrying a divorced older man, Peter Townsend; the press accused Philip of being hostile to the match, to which he replied "I haven't done anything." Philip had not interfered, preferring to stay out of other people's love lives.[65] Eventually, Margaret and Townsend parted. For six months, over 1953–54, Philip and Elizabeth toured the Commonwealth; as with previous tours the children were left in Britain.[66]

In 1956, the Duke, with Kurt Hahn, founded The Duke of Edinburgh's Award in order to give young people "a sense of responsibility to themselves and their communities". In the same year, he also established the Commonwealth Study Conferences. From 1956 to 1957, Philip travelled around the world aboard the newly commissioned HMY Britannia, during which he opened the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and visited the Antarctic, becoming the first royal to cross the Antarctic Circle.[67] The Queen and the children remained in the UK. On the return leg of the journey, Philip's private secretary, Mike Parker, was sued for divorce by his wife; as with Townsend, the press still portrayed divorce as a scandal and eventually Parker resigned. He later said that the Duke was very supportive and "the Queen was wonderful throughout, she regarded divorce as a sadness, not a hanging offence."[68] In a public show of support, the Queen created Parker a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.[69]

Further press reports claimed that the Queen and the Duke were drifting apart, which enraged the Duke and dismayed the Queen, who issued a strongly worded denial.[70] On 22 February 1957, she granted her husband the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom by Letters Patent, and it was gazetted that he was to be known as "His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh".[71] Philip was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on 14 October 1957, taking his Oath of Allegiance before the Queen in person at her Canadian residence, Rideau Hall.[72] Remarks he made two years later to the Canadian Medical Association on the subject of youth and sport were taken as a suggestion that Canadian children were out of shape; this was at first considered "tactless", but Philip was later admired for his encouragement of physical fitness.[73] In Canada in 1969, Philip spoke about his views on republicanism:

It is a complete misconception to imagine that the monarchy exists in the interests of the monarch, it doesn't. It exists in the interests of the people. If at any time any nation decides that the system is unacceptable, then it is up to them to change it.[74]

At the beginning of 1981, Philip wrote to his eldest son, Charles, counselling him to make up his mind to either propose to Lady Diana Spencer or break off their courtship.[81] Charles felt pressured by his father to make a decision and did so, proposing to Diana in February.[82]They married five months later. By 1992, the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales had broken down; the Queen and Philip hosted a meeting between Charles and Diana, trying to effect a reconciliation, but without success.[83] Philip wrote to Diana, expressing his disappointment at both Charles's and her extra-marital affairs, and asking her to examine both his and her behaviour from the other's point of view,[84] she found the letters hard to take, but nevertheless appreciated that he was acting with good intent.[85] Charles and Diana separated and later divorced.

A year after the divorce, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997. At the time, the Duke was on holiday at Balmoral with the extended royal family. In their grief, Diana's two sons, Princes William and Harry, wanted to attend church and so their grandparents took them that morning.[86] For five days, the Queen and the Duke shielded their grandsons from the ensuing press interest by keeping them at Balmoral, where they could grieve in private;[86] the royal family's seclusion caused public dismay,[86] but the public mood changed after a live broadcast made by the Queen on 5 September.[87] Uncertain as to whether they should walk behind her coffin during the funeral procession, Diana's sons hesitated.[87] Philip told William, "If you don't walk, I think you'll regret it later. If I walk, will you walk with me?"[87] On the day of the funeral, Philip, William, Harry, Charles, and Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, walked through London behind her bier.

Over the next few years, Mohamed Fayed, whose son Dodi Fayed was also killed in the crash, claimed that Prince Philip had ordered the death of Diana and that the accident was staged; the inquest into the Princess of Wales's death concluded in 2008 that there was no evidence of a conspiracy.[88]

In April 2008, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital for "assessment and treatment" for a chest infection, though he walked into the hospital unaided and recovered quickly,[91] and was discharged three days later to recuperate at Windsor Castle.[92] In August, the Evening Standard reported that he was suffering from prostate cancer. Buckingham Palace, which usually refuses to comment on rumours of ill health, claimed that the report was an invasion of privacy and issued a statement denying the story;[93] the newspaper retracted the report and admitted it was untrue.[94][95]

In June 2011, in an interview marking his 90th birthday he said that he would now slow down and reduce his duties, stating that he had "done [his] bit",[96] his wife, the Queen, gave him the title Lord High Admiral for his 90th birthday.[97] While staying at Sandringham House, the royal residence in Norfolk, on 23 December 2011, the Duke suffered chest pains and was taken to the cardio-thoracic unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, where he underwent successful coronary angioplasty and stenting,[98] he was discharged on 27 December.[99]

On 4 June 2012, during the celebrations in honour of his wife's Diamond Jubilee, Philip was taken from Windsor Castle to the King Edward VII Hospital, London, suffering from a bladder infection,[100][101] he was released from hospital on 9 June.[102] After a recurrence of infection in August 2012, while staying at Balmoral Castle, he was admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for five nights as a precautionary measure.[103] In June 2013, Philip was admitted to the London Clinic for an exploratory operation on his abdomen, spending 11 days in hospital.[104] On 21 May 2014, the Prince appeared in public with a bandage on his right hand after a "minor procedure" was performed in Buckingham Palace the preceding day.[105] In June 2017, he was taken from Windsor to London and admitted to King Edward VII Hospital after being diagnosed with an infection,[106] he spent two nights in the hospital and was unable to attend the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot.[107][108]

Prince Philip retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, meeting Royal Marines in his final solo public engagement, aged 96. Since 1952 he had completed 22,219 solo engagements. Prime Minister Theresa May thanked him for "a remarkable lifetime of service".[109][110] On 20 November 2017, he celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with the Queen, which made her the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary.[111]

On 3 April 2018, Philip was admitted to the King Edward VII Hospital for a planned hip replacement, which took place the next day; this came after the Duke missed the annual Maundy and Easter Sunday services. On 12 April his daughter, Princess Anne, spent about 50 minutes in the hospital and afterwards said her father was "on good form", he was discharged the following day.[112] On 19 May, six weeks later, he attended the wedding of his grandson Prince Harry to Meghan Markle and was able to walk with the Queen unaided;[113] that October, he accompanied the Queen to the wedding of their granddaughter Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank,[114] with The Telegraph reporting that Philip works on a "wake up and see how I feel" basis when deciding whether to attend an event or not.[115]

On 17 January 2019, 97-year-old Philip was involved in a car crash as he pulled out onto a main road near the Sandringham Estate. An official statement said he was uninjured. An eyewitness who came to the prince's aid described having to wipe blood off his hands;[116] the driver and a passenger of the other car were injured and taken to hospital.[117] Philip attended hospital the next morning as a precaution,[118] he apologised,[119] and three weeks later voluntarily surrendered his driving licence.[120][121] On 14 February the Crown Prosecution Service announced that prosecuting Philip would not be in the public interest;[122] the Duke is still allowed to drive around private estates, and was seen behind the wheel in the grounds of Windsor Castle in April 2019.[123]

His down-to-earth manner was attested to by a White House butler who recalled that, on a visit in 1979, Philip had engaged him and a fellow butler in a conversation, and poured them drinks;[131] as well as a reputation for bluntness and plain speaking,[132] Philip is noted for occasionally making observations and jokes that have been construed as either funny, or as gaffes: awkward, politically incorrect or even offensive, but sometimes perceived as stereotypical of someone of his age and background.[133][134][135][136][137] In an address to the General Dental Council in 1960, he jokingly coined a new word for his blunders: "Dontopedalogy is the science of opening your mouth and putting your foot in it, a science which I have practised for a good many years."[138] Later in life he suggested his comments may have contributed to the perception that he is "a cantankerous old sod".[139]

The historian David Starkey described him as a kind of "HRH Victor Meldrew".[140] For example, in May 1999 British newspapers accused Philip of insulting deaf children at a pop concert in Wales by saying, "No wonder you are deaf listening to this row."[141] Later Philip wrote, "The story is largely invention, it so happens that my mother was quite seriously deaf and I have been Patron of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf for ages, so it's hardly likely that I would do any such thing."[142] When he and the Queen met Stephen Menary, an army cadet blinded by an IRA bomb, and the Queen enquired how much sight he retained, Philip quipped: "Not a lot, judging by the tie he's wearing." Menary later said: "I think he just tries to put people at ease by trying to make a joke. I certainly didn't take any offence."[143]

During a state visit to China in 1986, in a private conversation with British students from Xi'an's North West University, Philip joked, "If you stay here much longer, you'll go slit-eyed."[144] The British press reported on the remark as indicative of racial intolerance, but the Chinese authorities were reportedly unconcerned. Chinese students studying in the UK, an official explained, were often told in jest not to stay away too long, lest they go "round-eyed",[145] his comment had no effect on Sino-British relations, but it shaped his own reputation.[146]

Philip has held a number of titles throughout his life. Originally holding the title and style of a prince of Greece and Denmark, Philip abandoned these royal titles prior to his marriage, and was thereafter created a British duke, among other noble titles; the Queen formally issued letters patent in 1957 making Philip a British prince.[71]

When addressing the Duke of Edinburgh, as with any male member of the royal family except the monarch, the rules of etiquette are to address him the first time as Your Royal Highness, and thereafter as Sir.[149]

The Duke of Edinburgh was appointed by King George VI to the Order of the Garter on 19 November 1947, the eve of his wedding. Since then, Philip has received 17 different appointments and decorations in the Commonwealth, and 48 from foreign states; the inhabitants of some villages on the island of Tanna, Vanuatuworship Prince Philip as a god; the islanders possess portraits of the Duke and hold feasts on his birthday.[150]

On their 70th wedding anniversary, 20 November 2017, the Queen appointed him Knight Grand Cross (GCVO) of the Royal Victorian Order, making him the first British national since his uncle Earl Mountbatten of Burma to be entitled to wear the breast stars of four orders of chivalry in the United Kingdom.[157]

Following his marriage to Princess Elizabeth until 1949, Prince Philip's arms featured a differenced version of the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, derived from his ancestor Princess Alice.[158]Unlike the arms used by other members of the royal family, the Duke's arms no longer features the royal arms of the United Kingdom, as he was granted new arms by King George VI in 1949. However, they do feature elements representing Greece and Denmark, from which he is descended in the male line; the Mountbatten family arms, from which he is descended in the female line; and the City of Edinburgh.

Adopted

19 November 1947

Crest

Issuant from a ducal coronet Or, a plume of five ostrich feathers alternately Sable and Argent;

Torse

Mantling Or and ermine

Helm

Upon a coronet of a son of the sovereign Proper, the royal helm Or[159]

Dexter, a representation of a wild man girt about the loins with a lion skin, crowned with a chaplet of oak leaves, holding in the dexter hand a club Proper (from the Danish and Greek royal coat of arms); sinister, a lion queue fourchée ducally crowned Or and gorged with a naval coronet Azure;

The arms of Denmark and Greece, represent the Duke of Edinburgh's familial lineage. The arms of the City of Edinburgh represent Philip's dukedom; the naval crown collar alludes to the Duke's naval career.

Previous versions

From 1947 to 1949:
"Arms of Greece surmounted by an inescutcheon of the arms of Denmark; and over all in the first quarter the arms of Princess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria, viz, the Royal Arms differenced with a label of three points argent, the middle point charged with a rose gules and each of the others with an ermine spot. The shield is encircled by the Garter and ensigned with a princely coronet of crosses pattée and fleurs-de-lis, above which is placed a barred helm affronte, and thereon the crest; out of a ducal coronet or, a plume of five ostrich feathers alternately sable and argent; the supporters are, dexter, the figure of Hercules proper, and sinister, a lion queue fourche ducally crowned or, gorged with a naval coronet azure."[158]

^The amount was set by the Civil List (Increase of Financial Provision) Order 1990. It was initially set at £40,000 in the Civil List Act 1952, raised to £65,000 by the Civil List Act 1972, and raised to £165,000 by the Civil List (Increase of Financial Provision) Order 1984.

1 Also prince of Norway2 Also prince of Greece3 Also prince of Iceland4 Also prince of The Kingdom of Great Britain / The United Kingdom5 Not Danish prince by birth, but created prince of DenmarkPrinces that lost their title following an unequal marriage are shown in italics

Invincible was one of the two operational aircraft carriers available at the time, and, as such, was to play a major role in the Royal Navy task force assembled to sail south to retake the islands. Prince Andrew's place on board and the possibility of the Queen's son being killed in action made the British Government apprehensive, the Cabinet desired that Prince Andrew be moved to a desk job for the duration of the conflict; the Queen, insisted that her son be allowed to remain with his ship. Prince Andrew remained on board Invincible to serve as a Sea King helicopter co-pilot, flying on missions that included anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare, Exocet missile decoy, casualty evacuation and search and air rescue, he witnessed the Argentinian attack on the SS Atlantic Conveyor. At the cessation of the war, Invincible returned to Portsmouth, where the Queen and Prince Philip joined other families of the crew in welcoming the vessel home; the Argentine military government planned, but did not attempt, to assassinate the prince on Mustique in July 1982.

Though he had brief assignments to HMS Illustrious, RNAS Culdrose, the Joint Services School of Intelligence, Prince Andrew remained with Invincible until 1983. Commander Nigel Ward's memoir, Sea Harrier Over the Falklands, described Prince Andrew as "an excellent pilot and a promising officer."Following his return from the Falklands War and until his marriage to Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew dated actress Koo Stark. In late 1983, Prince Andrew transferred to RNAS Portland, was trained to fly the Lynx helicopter, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 1 February 1984, whereupon the Queen appointed him as her personal aide-de-Camp. Prince Andrew served aboard HMS Brazen as a flight pilot until 1986, including deployment to the Mediterranean Sea as part of Standing NRF Maritime Group 2, he undertook the Lieutenants' Greenwich Staff course. On 23 October 1986, the Duke of York transferred to the General List, enrolled in a four-month helicopter warfare instructor's course at RNAS Yeovilton, upon graduation, served from February 1987 to April 1988 as a helicopter warfare officer in 702 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Portland.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, is a member of the British royal family. She is the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Married in 1999, she worked in public relations until 2002 and now is a full-time working member of the royal family who splits her time between her work in support of the Queen and a large number of her own charities and organisations; the Earl and Countess have two children: James, Viscount Severn, Lady Louise Windsor, who are eleventh and twelfth in line to the British throne. Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones was born at Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, on 20 January 1965, the second child and only daughter of Christopher Bournes Rhys-Jones, past president of the OBA, his alma mater, a retired sales director for an importer of industrial tyres and rubber goods, her mother was a charity worker and secretary. Sophie has an elder brother and was named after her father's sister, who died in a riding accident in 1960.

In 1996, Rhys-Jones launched her public relations agency, RJH Public Relations, which she ran with her business partner, Murray Harkin, for five years. While working at Capital Radio, Sophie met Prince Edward, the youngest son of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, for the first time in 1987 when he was dating her friend, she met Prince Edward again at a charity event in 1993, the two began their relationship soon afterwards. Their engagement was announced on 6 January 1999. Edward proposed to Sophie with an engagement ring featuring a two-carat oval diamond flanked by two heart-shaped gemstones set in 18-carat white gold; the ring was made by Asprey and Garrard and is worth an estimated £105,000. Sophie, close to the Queen from the beginning of her relationship with Edward, was allowed to use the royal apartments at Buckingham Palace prior to her engagement; the wedding took place on 19 June of the same year at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, a break from the weddings of Edward's older siblings, which were large, formal events at Westminster Abbey or St Paul's Cathedral.

On the day of their marriage, Prince Edward was created a hereditary peer as Earl of Wessex with the subsidiary title of Viscount Severn. It is understood; the couple spent their honeymoon at Balmoral Castle. Following their union, the Earl and Countess moved to their home in Surrey. While their private residence is Bagshot Park, their office and official London residence is based at Buckingham Palace. Due to renovations at Buckingham Palace in 2018, the couple temporarily moved their offices to St James's Palace; the Earl and Countess have two children: James, Viscount Severn. In December 2001, the Countess was taken to the King Edward VII Hospital after feeling unwell, it was discovered that she was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy and the foetus had to be removed. Two years on 8 November 2003, she prematurely gave birth to her daughter, resulting from a sudden placental abruption that placed both mother and child at risk, the Countess had to undergo an emergency caesarean section at Frimley Park Hospital, while the Earl of Wessex rushed back from Mauritius.

She is the patron, president and a member of numerous charities and organisations. Since 1994, she has taken action on earning honours and awards, she has raised awareness in areas including rape and sexual abuse, animal welfare and poverty. Camilla Rosemary Shand was born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947, she grew up in The Laines – an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex – and a three-storey house in South Kensington, her family's second home. Her parents were British Army officer turned his wife, Rosalind, she has a younger sister, Annabel Elliot, had a younger brother, Mark Shand. Her maternal great-grandmother, Alice Keppel, was a mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910. On 1 November 1947, Camilla was baptised at East Sussex. Camilla's mother was a housewife, while her father had various business interests after retiring from the army, he was most notably a partner in Block and Block, a firm of wine merchants in South Audley Street, Mayfair joining Ellis and Vidler of Hastings and London.

During her childhood years, Camilla became an avid reader due to the influence of her father, who read to her frequently. She grew up with dogs and cats, and, at a young age, learnt how to ride a pony by joining Pony Club camps which garnered her frequent rosettes at community gymkhanas. According to her, childhood "was perfect in every way". Biographer Gyles Brandreth describes her background and childhood:Camilla is described as having had an "Enid Blyton sort of Childhood". In fact, it was much grander than that. Camilla, as a little girl, may have had some personality traits of George, the tomboy girl among the Famous Five, but Enid Blyton’s children were middle-class children and The Shands, without question, belonged to the upper class; the Shands had position and they had help—help in the house, help in the garden, help with children. They were gentry, they opened their garden for the local Conservative Party Association summer fête. Enough said. At the age of five, Camilla was sent to a co-educational school in Ditchling village.

She left Dumbrells aged ten to attend Queen's Gate School in South Kensington. Her classmates at Queen's Gate knew her as "Milla". One of the teachers at the school was the writer Penelope Fitzgerald, who taught French and remembered Camilla as "bright and lively". Camilla left Queen's Gate with one O-level in 1964. At the age of sixteen, she travelled abroad to attend the Mon Fertile finishing school in Tolochenaz, Switzerland. After completing her course in Switzerland, she made her own decision and travelled to France to learn French and French literature at the University of London Institute in Paris for six months. On 25 March 1965, Camilla was a debutante in one of 311 that year. After moving from home, she shared a small flat in Kensington with her friend Jane Wyndham, niece of decorator Nancy Lancaster, she moved into a larger flat in Belgravia, which she shared with her landlady Lady Moyra Campbell, the daughter of the Duke of Abercorn, with Virginia Carington, daughter of the politicianLord Carrington.

Virginia was married to Camilla's uncle Henry Cubitt from 1973 until 1979. Camilla worked as a secretary for a variety of firms in the West End and was employed as a receptionist by the decorating firm Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler in Mayfair. In her spare time, she became a passionate horse-rider and attended equestrian activities, she had a passion for painting, which led to her private tutoring with an artist, although most of her work "ended up in the bin". Other interests were fishing and gardening. In the late 1960s, Camilla met Andrew Parker Bowles‍—‌then a Guards officer and lieutenant in the Blues and Royals— through his younger brother, Simon Parker Bowles, who worked for her father's wine firm in Mayfair. After an on and off relationship for years and Camilla announced their engagement in The Times in 1973,marrying on 4 July that year in a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks in London. Camilla was 25 years old and Parker Bowles 33, her wedding dress was designed by British fashion house Bellville Sassoon, the bridesmaids included Parker Bowles' goddaughter Lady

The villa was confiscated under controversial circumstances some years after the declaration of the Hellenic Republic in 1974. Its confiscation, the confiscation of other property of the deposed and exiled King Constantine II, without any compensation, led to a court case in the European Court of Human Rights; the King's argument centred on the claim that the property in question was acquired by his predecessors and was therefore subject to regular personal inheritance. The Greek state argued that because the property was either used by the royal family by virtue of its sovereign status or obtained by taking advantage of that status, once the monarchy was abolished, the property reverted to public ownership automatically; the Court struck a middle course in reaching its verdict and ordered the Hellenic Republic to pay the exiled king compensation of less than 1% of its worth but allowed the Greek state to retain ownership of the property. The villa and its gardens are the property of the Corfumunicipality, are now being used as an archeological museum.

The Ottoman advance into Greece was preceded by a victory over the Serbs to its north. First, the Ottomans won at 1371 on the Maritsa River – where the Serb forces were led by the King Vukašin of Serbia, the father of Prince Marko and the co-ruler of the last emperor from the Serbian Nemanjic dynasty; this was followed by a draw in the 1389 Battle of Kosovo. With no further threat by the Serbs and the subsequent Byzantine civil wars, the Ottomans captured Constantinople in 1453 and advanced southwards into Greece, capturing Athens in 1458; the Greeks held out in the Peloponnese until 1460, the Venetians and Genoese clung to some of the islands, but by 1500 most of the plains and islands of Greece were in Ottoman hands. The mountains of Greece were untouched, were a refuge for Greeks to flee foreign rule and engage in guerrilla warfare. Cyprus fell in 1571, the Venetians retained Crete until 1670; the Ionian Islands were only ruled by the Ottomans, remained under the rule of Venice. In the context of ardent desire for independence from Turkish occupation, with the explicit influence of similar secret societies elsewhere in Europe, three Greeks came together in 1814 in Odessa to decide the constitution for a secret organization in freemasonic fashion.

Otto arrived at Nafplion, in 1833 aboard a British warship. Otto's reign would prove troubled, but managed to last for 30 years before he and his wife, Queen Amalia, left the way they came, aboard a British warship. During the early years of his reign, a group of Bavarian Regents ruled in his name and made themselves unpopular by trying to impose German ideas of rigid hierarchical government on the Greeks, while keeping most significant state offices away from them, they laid the foundations of a Greek administration, justice system and education system. Otto was sincere in his desire to give Greece good government, but he suffered from two great handicaps, his Roman Catholic faith, the fact that his marriage to Queen Amalia remained childless. Furthermore, the new Kingdom tried to eliminate the traditional banditry, something that in many cases meant conflict with some old revolutionary fighters who continued to exercise this practice; the Bavarian Regents ruled until 1837, when at the insistence of Britain and France, they were recalled, Otto after that appointed Greek ministers, although Bavarian officials still ran most of the administration and the army.

But Greece still had no constitution. Greek discontent grew until a revolt broke out in Athens in September 1843. Otto agreed to grant a constitution, convened a National Assembly which met in November; the new constitution created a bicameral parliament, consisting of a Senate. Power passed into the hands of a group of politicians, most of whom had been commanders in the War of Independence against the Ottomans. Greek politics in the 19th century was dominated by the national question. Greeks dreamed of liberating them all and reconstituting a state embracing all the Greek lands, with Constantinople as its capital; this was called the Great Idea, it was sustained by cont

The Royal Navy is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years War against the Kingdom of France; the modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century. From the middle decades of the 17th century, through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century, it was the world's most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War; the Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the unmatched world power during the 19th and first part of the 20th centuries. Due to this historical prominence, it is common among non-Britons, to refer to it as "the Royal Navy" without qualification. Following World War I, the Royal Navy was reduced in size, although at the onset of World War II it was still the world's largest.

By the end of the war, the United States Navy had emerged as the world's largest. During the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines and active in the GIUK gap. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, its focus has returned to expeditionary operations around the world and remains one of the world's foremost blue-water navies. However, 21st century reductions in naval spending have led to a personnel shortage and a reduction in the number of warships; the Royal Navy maintains a fleet of technologically sophisticated ships and submarines including two aircraft carriers, two amphibious transport docks, four ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear fleet submarines, six guided missile destroyers, 13 frigates, 13 mine-countermeasure vessels and 22 patrol vessels. As of November 2018, there are 74 commissioned ships in the Royal Navy, plus 12 ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary; the RFA replenishes Royal Navy warships at sea, augments the Royal Navy's amphibious warfare capabilities through its three Bay-class landing ship vessels.

It works as a force multiplier for the Royal Navy doing patrols that frigates used to do. The total displacement of the Royal Navy is 408,750 tonnes; the Royal Navy is part of Her Majesty's Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, an admiral and member of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom; the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The Royal Navy operates three bases in the United Kingdom; as the seaborne branch of HM Armed Forces, the RN has various roles. As it stands today, the RN has stated its 6 major roles as detailed below in umbrella terms. Preventing Conflict – On a global and regional level Providing Security At Sea – To ensure the stability of international trade at sea International Partnerships – To help cement the relationship with the United Kingdom's allies Maintaining a Readiness To Fight – To protect the United Kingdom's interests across the globe Protecting the Economy – To safe guard vital trade routes to guarantee the United Kingdom's and its allies' economic prosperity at sea Providing Humanitarian Aid – To deliver a fast and effective response to global catastrophes The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the kingdom's power in the 10th century.

At one point Aethelred II had an large fleet built by a national levy of one ship for every 310 hides of land, but it is uncertain whether this was a standard or exceptional model for raising fleets. During the period of Danish rule in the 11th century, the authorities maintained a standing fleet by taxation, this continued for a time under the restored English regime of Edward the Confessor, who commanded fleets in person. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Following the Battle of Hastings, the Norman navy that brought over William the Conqueror disappeared from records due to William receiving all of those ships from feudal obligations or because of some sort of leasing agreement which lasted only for the duration of the enterprise. More troubling, is the fact that there is no evidence that William adopted or kept the Anglo-Saxon ship mustering system, known as the scipfryd. Hardly noted after 1066, it appears that the Normans let the scipfryd languish so that by 1086, when the Doomsday Book was completed, it had ceased to exist.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 1068, Harold Godwinson's sons Godwine and Edmund conducted a ‘raiding-ship army’ which came from Ireland, raiding across the region and to the townships of Bristol and Somerset. In the following year of 1069, they returned with a bigger fleet which they sailed up the River Taw before being beaten back by a local earl near Devon. However, this made explicitly clear that the newly conquered England under Norman rule, in effect, ceded the Irish Sea to the Irish, the Vikings of Dublin, other Norwegians. Besides ceding away the Irish Sea, the Normans ceded the North Sea, a major area where Nordic peoples traveled. In 1069, this lack of naval presence in the North Sea allowed for the invasion an

World War II known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries; the major participants threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China, it included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with China by 1937, though neither side had declared war on the other. World War II is said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.

S. in solidarity with their Japanese ally. Rapid Japanese conquests over much of the Western Pacific ensued, perceived by many in Asia as liberation from Western dominance and resulting in the support of several armies from defeated territories; the Axis advance in the Pacific halted in 1942. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in Central China, South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands; the war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.

Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies. Tribunals were set up by fiat by the Allies and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and the Japanese. World War II changed the political social structure of the globe; the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia.

Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic expansion. Political integration in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and create a common identity; the start of the war in Europe is held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred and the two wars merged in 1941; this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935; the British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the fo

Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, is a substantive title that has been created three times for members of the British royal family since 1726. The current holder is Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II. — 1726 creation — The title was first created in the …

The Byzantine castle of Angelokastro in Corfu, located at the western frontier of the Empire, was instrumental in repulsing the Ottomans during the first great siege of Corfu in 1537, in the siege of 1571 and the second great siege of Corfu in 1716 causing the Ottomans to fail at penetrating the defences of Corfu in the North. Consequently the Turks were never able to create a beachhead and to occupy the island.

Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms.Elizabeth was born in London as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and she was educated privately at home. Her father …

Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent to the British throne as the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II. He has been Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay since 1952, and is the oldest and longest-serving heir apparent in British history …

Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the …

Princess Alice of Battenberg was the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and mother-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II. — A great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she grew up in the United Kingdom, the German Empire, and the …

The United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but more commonly known as the UK or Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of …

The Royal Navy is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years War against the Kingdom of France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the …

The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of British Armed Forces. As of 2018, the British Army comprises just over 81,500 trained regular personnel and just over 27,000 trained reserve personnel.The modern British Army traces back …

The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the …

Admiral of the Fleet is a five-star naval officer rank and the highest rank of the Royal Navy formally established in 1688. The five-star NATO rank code is OF-10, equivalent to a field marshal in the British Army or a marshal of the Royal Air Force. Other than honorary appointments no new admirals …

Field Marshal has been the highest rank in the British Army since 1736. A five-star rank with NATO code OF-10, it is equivalent to an Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy or a Marshal of the Royal Air Force in the Royal Air Force. A Field Marshal's insignia consists of two crossed batons …

Marshal of the Royal Air Force is the highest rank in the British Royal Air Force. In peacetime it was granted to RAF officers in the appointment of Chief of the Defence Staff, and to retired Chiefs of the Air Staff, who were promoted to it on their last day of service …

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total …

The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign …

Operation Dragoon was the code name for the Allied invasion of the French Riviera. Originally planned to coincide with D-Day, it had been postponed due to insufficient landing-craft. In August, it was revived, as the zone had become a low priority for the …

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Marine and Army forces against the Imperial Japanese Army. The initial invasion …

A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in which Queen Elizabeth II is the reigning constitutional monarch and head of state. Each realm is independent from the other realms. As of 2019, there are 16 Commonwealth realms: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada …

Elizabeth II is the reigning sovereign of each of the 16 Commonwealth realms.

The Australian and South African prime ministers, Billy Hughes and Louis Botha, stand first and second from the right; the Canadian delegate, Sir George Foster, stands fourth from left. The representatives of New Zealand and Newfoundland are not shown.

Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is a member of the British royal family. She is the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne. Instead of using the title Princess of Wales, she uses the title Duchess …

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is a member of the British royal family. He is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. Since birth, he has been second in the line to succeed his grandmother Elizabeth II, who is …

William (far left) on a 1987 Christmas card with his grandparents, brother, and cousins Peter and Zara Phillips

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, is a member of the British royal family. Her husband, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is expected to become king of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms, making Catherine a likely future queen …

The newly married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace (2011)

William and Catherine with their first son the day after his birth (2013)

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and is sixth in the line of succession to the British throne. He was officially styled Prince …

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is a retired American actress who became a member of the British royal family upon her marriage to Prince Harry. — Markle was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and has a mixed ethnic heritage. During her studies at …

Sophie, Countess of Wessex, is a member of the British royal family. She is the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Married in 1999, she worked in public relations until …

Prince Michael of Kent, is a member of the British royal family. He is a paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, being a grandson of King George V and Queen Mary. He is currently 47th in the line of succession to the British throne, but at …

Anne, Princess Royal, is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the British throne, behind her mother – then Princess …

The House of Glücksburg, shortened from House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, is a Dano-German branch of the House of Oldenburg, members of which have reigned at various times in Denmark, Norway, Greece and several northern German states. — Queen Margrethe II …

Prince George of Cambridge is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child and elder son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and third in the line of succession to the British throne behind his …

Mon Repos is a villa on the island of Corfu, Greece. It lies south of Corfu City in the forest of Palaeopolis. — History — The villa was built as a summer residence for the British Lord High Commissioner of the United States of the Ionian Islands, Frederick Adam, and his second wife …

The Battle of Cape Matapan was a Second World War naval engagement between British Imperial and Axis forces, fought from 27–29 March 1941. The cape is on the south-west coast of the Peloponnesian peninsula of Greece. Following the interception of Italian signals by …

The battleship Vittorio Veneto firing upon the Allied cruisers during the action off Gavdos

Vittorio Veneto withdraws from the battle area after being torpedoed by RN aircraft.

A member of the armed forces mentioned in dispatches is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which his or her gallant or meritorious action in the face of the enemy is described. — In some countries, a service …

Princess Beatrice of York is a member of the British royal family. She is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is eighth in line to succeed her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. — Early life and education …

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, is the youngest grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary. He practised as an architect until the death of his elder brother placed him in direct line to inherit his father's dukedom of Gloucester, which he …

The Duke of Gloucester, in the robes of the Order of St John, in October 2015